Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Chicken Pasta Salad

Recently, I've found a great cooking blogger, Lara. Her blog, Recipe Shoebox, has tons of great and healthy recipes -- and ones that are kid friendly! She recently featured some easy recipes to make with kids -- like ice cream in a bag, and a yummy orange jello salad! You can easily search for recipes using the navigation bar at the top of her blog, or you can search by ingredients on the side.

Not only are her recipes great, but she has photos... most of which must be taken on her deck because they're outside!! Love it.

She recently posted a recipe for Chicken Pasta Salad. We haven't had a pasta salad in a long time, and this sounded like a great summer dish. Yum.

*I was out of chicken broth, so I tossed 2 chicken legs into the crockpot with some garlic, onion, and covered the chicken in water. Then, I cooked on high for 3-5 hours, until the chicken was tender enough to fall off the bone. I let the chicken cool, strained the broth and then deboned the chicken.

This gave this salad a great chicken flavor :) And, it was so easy!!

Next, I boiled the pasta.

Meanwhile, I sauteed the mushrooms and garlic together.

When just about done, I added in the tomatoes to warm them with the mushrooms (this is mainly because Frog Prince doesn't like cold tomatoes).

When the pasta is done, I drained the pasta and added the pasta to the bowl with the shredded chicken (use a large bowl!!). Then I added the mushroom/tomato mix and the broccoli.

And I stirred the pasta salad all together (carefully). There was so much pasta I needed to separate this salad into two bowls!!

Then, sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese.

The next step is to prepare the sauce. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and then add in the chicken broth, pepper, thyme and lemon juice. Stir well to combine. Heat until warm through, but you don't need to bring it to a boil. Then, pour over the pasta and stir.

Serve with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

This salad got great reviews and the leftovers have been fabulous both warm and chilled. Thanks Lara!

When cooking, please make sure to follow kitchen hygiene and safety -- cook meat until internal temperature is at safe levels, always check labels for allergens, and use caution in the kitchen -- I love sharing recipes, but I am not liable for damages done as a result of trying these recipes.